Ex-FCA Official Pleads Guilty in Labor Training Fund Scandal

Alphons Iacobelli, a former head of labor relations for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in the U.S., has pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from an employee training fund. He will be sentenced in May.

Iacobelli is at the center of a federal investigation that began more than a year ago. He faces as much as 8 years in prison and will be required to repay $835,000 in funds he stole that were intended for a training facility jointly run by FCA and the United Auto Workers union.

The 42-page indictment handed down in July accuses him of filing a false tax return, making prohibited payments to a union official, conspiring to defraud the federal government and violation of the Labor Management Relations Act.

Investigators say he diverted funds to buy himself a Ferrari 458 Spider and two solid-gold pens worth a combined $75,000. He also spent $450,000 on luxury items for company and union employees and $262,000 to pay off the mortgage of General Holiefield, then the UAW’s top FCA official.

Iacobelli is the fourth person to be indicted in the FCA scandal. Last year charges also were brought against former FCA financial analyst Jerome Durden, retired UAW associate director Virdell King, and Holiefield’s widow Monica Morgan. Durden and King will be sentenced in May and June, respectively. Morgan awaits a February plea hearing.